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Friday, 30 October 2015

Weekly Update #106: Cerebus Mega-Recap

Dave discusses his visit to the MRI clinic in Chicago, recaps the Great Cerebus Giveaway in Leamington, previews the Cerebus Covers Collection from IDW, teases us with some CGC copies of Cerebus and shows us an actual real copy of the remastered Church & State I!

Picking up from the conversation yesterday: Yes, Eddie, it would be GREAT if CEREBUS fans who are online could get the word out about Kickstarter. That was part of the idea with the Mt. Everest image: to explain what we're doing in the most concise way possible. Anyone should be able to cut-and-paste the dumbed down version into an e-mail and then e-mail it to ANY environment that you think might be interested in helping.

Unfortunately, I don't think that would include COMICS NEWS SITES. Bleeding Cool, yes, and I hope Rich J uses the Mt. Everest image at some point -- or, rather, MANY points -- over the next couple of decades as we continue the climb. The other sites -- unless it's 'DAVE SIM BURNED ALIVE INSIDE THE OFF-WHITE HOUSE! GRAPHIC PHOTOS OF HIS FINAL SECONDS!' (which would qualify as the "feel good" comics story of 2015, I think :) ) -- I'm not seeing it.

It seems to me that this is something that would ordinarily attract interest on Kickstarter from the general public who like to help RESTORE and PRESERVE creative works and are willing to donate $5 (or whatever) to help. It's the old "lariv" versus "viral" thing. I realize how humiliating it is to be a CEREBUS fan in 2015 and that the urge is just to "crowd in" and STARE INTENTLY at Dave Sim and whatever he's saying today. I'm just pointing out that we're definitely near the brink we came to in 2012 where this just isn't sustainable.

Dean: If I auction artwork through Heritage Auctions, it would be glamourpuss pages. If I get to the point where I'm auctioning glamourpuss pages and -- way down the line -- CEREBUS artwork, then I will have "pulled the plug" and I'll be just Dave Sim Shlub Citizen instead of Dave Sim First Cerebus Custodian. That is, I wouldn't be in contact with anyone. No restorations, no trade paperbacks being printed, no Weekly Updates, no Cerebus Archive, no Kickstarter, no Cerebus Foundation, no Off-White House. All gone.

That will be the ultimate failure. And the only bright side to that, for me (and it's really the ONLY bright future I can envision) is having ZERO responsibility for the first time since I was 20. Just package up artwork for Heritage Auctions and read books in whatever furnished room I'm living until the cheque comes in.

That's ultimately what you're going to see staring at Dave Sim intently, I think.

But, as I say, I completely understand the humiliation involved in admitting "I'm a huge CEREBUS fan and I think CEREBUS is important..." -- I certainly don't admit to being the CREATOR of CEREBUS unless forced to by circumstances (believe me, I understand your humiliation 100%) -- and trying to connect with Real World environments with the Mt. Everest image. I wouldn't even know where to begin. I'm committed to keep going as long as it's viable, which is really all I can do.

Eddie: Thanks for the $1,500 -- and thanks to everyone who has pledged. We've managed to cover the shipping costs and John's labour costs so whatever comes in from now on will be going to Sean and Mara and to pay me the $2.50 an hour I've been making since Gerhard left back in 2006.

Okay, back to the COVERS book for me. No, not much of the material made it into the book. Gerhard and I aren't top-line creators and CEREBUS isn't a top-line book. It would be unreasonable to think that IDW would do much more than the bare-bones 300 pages. They're letting me add roughly 20 pages which is nice of them. I don't think anyone will like what I choose because no one likes anything that I choose.

Seeing all those lovely covers inspired me to go and place a pre-order on Amazon for the IDW book. It's interesting to note that here in .co.uk land the book is credited to Gerhard in the page's hypertext author link.

No shame here, I'd like to say (possibly in homage to Spartacus) that: I'm a huge CEREBUS fan and I think CEREBUS is important because nothing else comes close to its expression of the way a life play out.

Is it possible that CAN4 just needs to be better targeted to the original fans of the book? There were about 30,000 Cerebus fans during Church & State and about 5,000 or so who stuck it through to the end. One would think that there have to be at least hundreds of those fans who would be interested in the kickstarter that are simply not aware of it.

Those folks have to be the "target audience". I would think the best way to try to locate those people would be old subscription lists or via comic shop owners of the time that may be aware of those people.

While I was collecting Cerebus, I did not know anyone else who liked it.

For what it's worth, I have never been embarrassed, or humiliated, to be a Cerebus fan. I have proudly worn my frayed Graffiti shirts to many a comic convention, or non-comic related events for that matter, that I have attended. And I recently ordered, from Garffiti, two more (the last two in my size) of “He doesn’t love you He just wants all your money” shirts, so this way I am covered for when I have to retire my favourite shirt. I’m surrounded by what artwork I do own (including the first sketch you ever did for me back in 1986 on the inside cover of a Swords Six), I’ve picked up extra copies of various volumes of the phone books and given them away to friends and family and I am pretty sure there are plenty of people, like myself, who don’t shy away from telling people that your 6000 page epic is more than worthwhile reading.

The suggestion of selling off artwork was not meant to imply any kind of failure. As I had acknowledged at the beginning of the suggestion I realize that it is contrary to what you are doing with the archive, and I was simply trying to suggest a means for you to bank a small/medium/large/gargantuan...whatever sized reserve that would benefit the whole of the project that could be tapped into when unexpected occurrences, like the hidden print costs, rear their ugly heads. And I know it becomes a Sophie’s Choice and it would be a difficult thing to ask yourself which of your pages you must sacrifice (and based on the reaction the answer is none, which is what I expected) but it was just a suggestion (even though I knew the answer before even suggesting it I just thought I would throw it out there anyway).

I would be happy to back the Kickstarter for, say, $10, for a reward that includes a digital file of the text of Dave's commentaries on the art, no images.

I can't afford the portfolio unless I switch my support over from Patreon, but I actually value supporting Dave's work on SDOAR over the restoration efforts. I'll definitely support the restoration effort by buying the finished book.

Eagerly awaiting the new C&S 1 and the covers book (which I assume will be resolicited in Previews, since it was over a year ago when the first solicit was out, iirc). I will be contributing to the Kickstarter before the end, and hope the money problems work out. I'll do my best to help how I can. I also gave Rich a heads up to feature the Kickstarter et al over at Bleeding Cool. Not sure he's been keeping up with AMOC now that he's handling all the EIC duties at BC again.

"I AM NOT DAVE SIM"

This is an UNOFFICIAL fan-site. Although Dave Sim posts a Weekly Update here every Friday and other exclusive articles, Dave Sim and Gerhard have no control over the other content of this site ~ Tim W.